March 1907.] 



161 



Edible Products. 



All these agree in allowing an extreme richness to the cake, and this is borne 

 out by experiments in stock feeding which need not be detailed. 



Subba Rao (1. c, p. 283) tells us of the use of cake for human food when 

 famine presses in India ; Handy speaks of its use in the Southern States between 

 1861 and 1863 (1. c, p. 21). Of further interest are the attempts to use it in the same 

 way in Europe. The first advocate was Dr. M liters whose analysis is quoted above ; 

 a second is Dr. Nordlinger. Both avail themselves of the removal of much of the oil 

 to obtain a highly nitrogenous and nutritous food, not over-rich in one of the 

 elements of a balanced diet. 



Dr. Nordlinger's preparations are made by the Rademann Food Product 

 Factory and take four forms :— 



Pea-nut grits (Erdnussgriitze). 



Pea-nut flour (Erdnussmehl). 



Pea-nut biscuits. 



Diabetic chocolate biscuits. 



The first is a coarse meal, the second a flour, both giving on analysis the 

 following :— 



Water ... ... ... ... 4 "8 



Protein substances ... ... ... 48 5 



Oil ... ... ... ... 220 



Carbohydrates ... ... ... 17*9 



The first kind of biscuits is composed of the pea-nut flour with the addition 

 of a starchy flour, which raises considerably the percentage of the carbohydrate 

 elements, while the second kind, in which starchy stuffs are a disadvantage, is com- 

 posed of the pea-nut flour with no considerable admixture. 



For some time the Soja bean has been employed as a dietetic for those 

 suffering from diabetes, and Dr. Nordlinger points out that Arachis, besides being 

 very much cheaper, has, after the extraction of the oil, a greater percentage of 

 nitrogenous food and not much less fatty food. 



Since 1893 these products have been in the market. They have further been 

 the subject of experiments under Dr. Fiihrbringer in a hospital in Berlin, where, it 

 is reported, most of the patients, who were suffering from the usual variety of 

 complaints to be met with in a public hospital, willingly ate pea-nut soup offered to 

 them. Also the experiment of supplying them in the army rations has been tried. 



It is worth noting in passing that Dr. Nordlinger's analysis— the first of the 

 series given — shows a richer cake by far than is usual. It cannot be denied that on 

 chemical investigation the feeding value compared with the cost is immense. The 

 great question is in the palatability of the products offered. 



Poison in Food Plants, Especially Cassava. 



By T. B. Pohath-Kehelpannala. 

 The occasional development of poisonous properties in many plants used for 

 food, frequently attended by fatal results, is a great hindrance to their more exten- 

 sive cultivation. In the case of Manioea, especially, the prejudice is so strong that 

 in the Kandyan districts very little is grown ; whereas the Cassava, if a wider know- 

 ledge of its cultivation and cooking existed, might be produced in enormous quanti- 

 ties. It is hoped that the following notes on this and other food-stuffs may be of 

 some service : — 



Cassava. 



This plant (Manihot utilissima) appears to have been first brought to Ceylon 

 from South America by the Portuguese, and was later introduced to the Kandyan 

 districts by the Caffirs of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. There are some four varieties 

 at present grown : 



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